My Yarbo appears to consume much more battery during today’s heavy snowstorm. It was charged to 100%, but it only cleared about 800 sq ft in 38 minutes. The battery then dropped to 25% and needed to recharge. At this pace, it will take 4 charges to clear my 2,800 sq ft driveway, with about three hours between each charge. The snow is accumulating even faster than Yarbo can clear it. By 12 hour later, the snow will be too deep for Yarbo.
I hope the Yarbo battery can last longer so that Yarbo can keep up with the speed of the snowfall. Am I the only one during this storm?
Drop your overlap, down to zero if need be. Raise your first pass up to 0.5 and second pass to 0 (assuming asphalt). If dry powder, you can drop the auger speed down to balance or even quiet and moving speed at medium or fast. This can help you get through it quicker with more battery leftover. You may have to watch and tweak it as you go. Also 20-80% should only take about 1.5 hours on the wireless dock. Are you using wired?
Hi there, you may want to refer to Bryan’s suggestions on adjusting overlap, auger speed, and driving speed to see if those settings help improve efficiency in your situation.
Thanks everyone for the constructive advice. I will try raising the height to 0.5 and reducing the overlap to get through the first pass next time. Yesterday was a big snowstorm, with about 16 inches of accumulation over 18 hours at 20°F. During the first run of 800 sq ft, it was about 8 inches on the ground. I charged Yarbo on the wireless charging board.
The snow was accumulating so fast yesterday that Yarbo’s blowing couldn’t keep up with the snowfall. Having faster battery drain,and 2.5 hour charging cycle made the situation worse.
I have a question for you: with the height set to 0.5, would Yarbo be more likely to slip and get stuck? In my situation, the automatic de-stuck mechanism doesn’t work in about 20% of cases. I usually set the height to 0.08. When Yarbo can’t push forward, it raises itself to blow the top layer of snow, then drops back to 0.08 to continue. This mechanism sometimes leaves snow under the tracks, which causes slippage and eventually gets Yarbo stuck.
I wonder if your dock was covered some or the core couldn’t get quite properly aligned to take advantage of the full charge. Also could’ve just been working so hard the battery heated up and needed to cool down before it started charging.
To answer your question about the stuck on higher clearing, it could. But if it’s getting stuck on bumps or ridges now, the extra height could help it not get stuck. If you’re on asphalt or concrete it’s typically recommended to go to zero if you can. Lots of bumps, raise it up some like you have. The less you leave behind, the less chance it will get itself stuck. Also send it out early. 8 inches is a lot for it to handle. Anything more than 2-4 is going to eat battery a lot faster. I know that’s sometimes easier said then done given conditions and work times, but if you have quick snowfall and long work times, send it way early so you fall behind less. You can also increase the core speed and drop the auger speed if it’s dry snow.
With the ability to change speeds during passes you can run higher the first with higher power, power mode is sufficient for virtually all conditions, and then drop the height down for the 2nd pass, balanced and fastest speed. The first snow storm we got it was so wet and heavy Yarbo couldn’t even complete the perimeter pass before it needed to recharge. Charging 20-80% is the fastest way to get a recharge. The newest update has made significant improvements.
Edit: the highest I would run on the first pass is .6-.8 depending on conditions